Iris
by Ultimate-Space-Child
Summary: When Katsuki can't get to sleep and goes outside, he is entranced by a certain gravity girl's voice.


_Hey guys! So this is my contribution to Ochako's birthday that I'm hella late for like OTL. Either way, in case youre confused, this is based off of a headcanon that I posted to tumblr about Ochako being really musical and stuff like that. You can read it here: post/151045370240/so-ochako-even-though-she-is-a-kickass-fighter ; I apologize if it's not good at all! I did the best I could! But I still hope you enjoy my little one shot!_

The minutes on the clock slowly ticked by, stars twinkling their luminesce outside in the dark, ombré galaxy.

Katsuki rolled his head towards his desk, frustration boiling in his blood as he read the time.

2:03 AM

He groaned in response, rolling his head back to its previous position, his eyes boring holes into the ceiling as his mind ran circles, a nonstop continuous loop that seemed to have no end in his mind. Normally, sleep would come easy to him. He would just close his eyes and suddenly find himself in a relaxing darkness that took him to vibrant lands. Even when the class went up and down his floor, screaming and yelling their excitement over the variety of room decor, his exhaustion pushed him through that and he woke up the next morning the most awake and prepared out of all the entire class.

However, tonight was different.

Tonight his bones were aching in activity, cracking at the joints as he shifted around. He could feel energy coursing through his muscle ligaments, desiring to move, desiring to run, desiring to fight. His arm shook with tension, restlessness hurting the fibers that connected themselves to his corpse. Even his eyes couldn't keep shut as the black screen kept him anxious and felt comforted with the variety of red and blue that surrounded his messy room.

Katsuki was wide awake and nothing could make him fall asleep.

He rolled around, rested his head in different positions, controlled his breathing, and even tried counting sheep for what felt like hours but the frustration just kept poking him in the side, grabbing his attention at every maneuver. After a while, his eyes wandered off to the clock again only to have them widen in pure anger.

2:07 AM

"Holy fuck...Fuck this shit," he angrily cursed out, ripping off the comforter from his body and heaving himself from the bed in rough and jagged movements. He trudged over to his closet and yanked it open, dents seen in the metal as he violently grabbed his Punisher shirt and black sweatpants and quickly put them, not wasting even a second more of the night. Slipping on his shoes, he swiped his lanyard off from his desk, shoving it in his pocket as he exited his room and trudged down the hallway to all the way down to the outside courtyard. He knew that if he got caught, severe punishments would come his way but his body rebelled against the warnings and craved for the movements he was partaking in.

The cold air swirled around him as he stepped outside and gazed at the trees that lined at the trails that branched from the building. With a deep breath in, he let his feet chose the destination and he began his run through an adjacent trail. As he ran, the wind blew towards him, whipping yet caressing his face as he pushed past the strong force, the coldness resting in the creases that folded in by his eyes and cheeks. Energy surged through his legs and arms as they pumped out their restlessness with each step he took down the trail, enjoying the harsh movements that they were enduring. Sweat collected at the tips and crack of his palm and little sparks formed at his fingertips, illuminating the path he was on.

Suddenly, every movement in his body stopped, his muscles frozen in place, trapped in a hidden spell that was casted by a string of notes in the distance. He brought his head up and tried locating the sound, drawn to its magic as he searched for it, internally craving for more of it. The melody whispered into his ear, calling him to follow it. Drawn to it, he mindlessly moved towards it, the change of terrain not registering in his blank mind.

It led him to bushes that were covering a large koi pond with rocks and small flowers bringing color to the translucent water that was sparkling under the moonlight. The shifts in the koi's movements rippled in the water, creating calm waves that sent instant waves of relaxation to the eye.

But that's not what caught Katsuki's eye. Through the branches, he saw a small statured girl that was standing upright, her legs slightly apart to support the big object that slung over her shoulder and onto her torso. Her left arm was bent upwards in a stationary position with her fingers rapidly switching between sections while her right arm strummed up and down, different notes escaping as she continued on.

 _"And you can't fight the tears that ain't coming  
Or the moment of truth in your lies  
When everything feels like the movies  
Yeah you bleed just to know you're alive_

 _And I don't want the world to see me  
'Cause I don't think that they'd understand  
When everything's meant to be broken  
I just want you to know who I am"_

Her voice lifted itself into the universe, dancing and twirling with the wind, creating a soft and sensational rhythm that tied Katsuki up and roped his full attention. She was like a siren, her voice entrancing him to stay, to find out more, to become one with the sound. It felt as if the stars were colliding into each other, galaxies intertwining with each other in dance and war. The melody was beautiful and mysterious yet passion was heavily mixed in there like a pigmented paint that amplified the subdued color. Cracks and whispers gave her emotion away and it pulled at Katsuki, calling him to come forward.

Hearing it sounded like a plea of help, someone that needed to be saved and loved. Someone who needed a hero.

The song grasped at his legs and pulled him forward, his arm extending out to grab her when a root in the dirt caught his foot, causing him to stumble. He tried grabbing at a branch for a support system but it seemed as if they retracted their arms, hesitant to help him and his face was met with earth. The spell immediately shattered and reality stabbed back into him, nailing him down to the ground.

After a few seconds, the pain slightly subsided and he used his calloused hands to lift his upper body up when his eyes caught a pair of flip flops standing right in front his face. He lifted his head up and his eyes widened when he saw who was in front of him.

It was Ochako Uraraka, the class sweetheart who manipulated gravity and controlled it like a queen. The girl who always saw the positive in every situation and smiled even though she wanted to cry. The girl who threw away her smile and gave her all during their match months ago. The girl who piqued his interest and showed her inner beast with her screams and swift movements. The girl who now stood before him with tears built up in the corner of her eyes.

"Bakugou?" she quietly whispered to him, her hand moving quickly to remove any sign of her crying and being emotional. "What are you doing here?" she asked, extending her hand out to him, wondering why there was someone else like her out here at the early morning hours.

"I should be asking you that round face," he grunted out, ignoring her hand and pulling his muscles up on his, swaying a bit from the slight cuts that grazed his elbows and knees. "I couldn't fucking sleep, what's your excuse?"

Ochako stayed silent for a minute. Her mind went through a debate on whether she should be up front or lie through her teeth like she knew how to do best. "I…I have trouble sleeping at night so I just come out here and sing whatever song is on my mind. It really helps relax me," she quietly admitted, words tumbling out before she could filter them out. She had never said those words to anybody before so it felt foreign to her to hear her own voice betray her like that.

Katsuki scoffed at her explanation, "So you come out here and fucking prance around with your guitar, singing and dancing, pretending to be what? A famous pop star? Don't make me laugh." He clicked his tongue before continuing, punching in his point. "No matter you fucking fall asleep in class and fail your tests and then cry to me or that shit stain of a loser for help. This fucking explains why." A moment passed by and he drilled in the question that had been stuck since hearing her voice. "If you don't take it seriously, then why the fuck are you even here?"

His eyes tunneled into hers until she adverted her own and gave a small smile to the ground before she turned on her heel and walked towards the pond, her back facing his chest. She stuck her hand into the frigid water, slowly sifting it back and forth creating tiny ripples of waves. "You know, Bakugou? I actually ask that every time I come out here. When I go to class or even training, everything just feels…off. Like I don't belong in that environment. But when I step out here with my guitar, even though it's cold and awful and I sneeze a lot from the pollination, I feel like I'm welcomed and wanted. Truth to be told, I don't care at all about being a hero. I'd actually like to sing for the rest of my life and just create art and beauty." Silence overtook both of them, tension screaming between them. Katsuki opened his mouth before Ochako immediately shut it again. "But then, I look at the pictures of my parents and I think of all the sacrifices they've made for me in the past and it just pushes me even more to be a hero. Yes, I know it's not where I'm meant to be, I can see that sometimes, but it's where I need to be to help my parents and that weighs more to me than my own ambitions." She slowly stood up from her crouched position and turned back to him with the same determined face she gave him months prior, fragile clearly not present in any of her features. "I want to become a hero and give my parents the life that they deserve. That's why I'm still here." She answered him, her eyes focused in his.

Moments passed and they continued to share their aura with each other through their stares. Neither moved an inch, their bodies and minds trapped within each other's.

Katsuki suddenly broke through her spell and clicked his tongue as he adverted his head away from her. His thoughts were unfamiliar and felt off to him. It was a strange feeling, something that he definitely had not experienced before. He felt his heart contorting itself in multiple shapes and ways while his mind buzzed and clouded itself. She was making him vulnerable and he wanted it to stop.

Stone-faced, he walked over to her and gestured to her to give him the guitar that was snuggling against her chest. Warily, she slowly lifted it off her shoulders and gave it to him, her hands out as he took it from her and fiddled with it. He turned it around multiple times, observing the finer details that he hadn't noticed before. "So…what song was on your mind tonight?" he sheepishly asked her, trying to divert the conversation to a more lighter one. Her determined face sent shivers down his spine and he wasn't used it. He needed to get back to familiar ground again.

"Oh, tonight? Well I heard this song called "Iris" the other day and at the time, it didn't really strike a chord to me. It kind of just felt like another American classic. But after today's training session, when I came out here to sing, the chorus really stuck out to me. I know it's mostly a love song but something about the chorus really resonated with me tonight. I can't really tell you why but it did."

"Huh…interesting."

"I can play it for you if you'd like."

Katsuki looked up from the guitar and looked at her face. Her hands were outstretched as she sported a sweet smile on her lips, her eyes crinkling in happiness. Everything about her in that moment looked like she wanted to share her love to him and he could feel her strumming his heart as she looked at him with her doe eyes. They commanded him to softly pass the guitar back to her and she grabbed it back from him, sitting down on a rock by the rock. She gestured for him to follow and sit on the rock closest to her. Rolling his eyes and making his grumpiness apparent on his face, he disobeyed his facial expression and sat on the rock, legs spread out as he put his elbow on his knee, the fist created his hand supporting his face.

Ochako smiled at him and began to lightly strum on the strings, notes intertwining with each other to create a melody that was unique to her and her alone. As she continued on, Katsuki could feel his muscles relaxing at the soft chords she was playing, his mind wandering off as he continued to listen. But when she started to sing, the whispers and breaths she emitted roped him back in and all of his attention was focused back on her. It was as if she took his hand and pulled him into her heart as her inflections conveyed a different emotion. He could the pain that was stabbing at her soul and aching for something else. He could feel her heart wanting to be understood yet struggling to make that a reality. Any pain and emotions she had ever felt tightened around his own heart and it beat in agony for her. It was if he could see her entire life story and he clawed at it to rip it up, to give her a new beginning but it kept patching itself and it loomed over him. His heavy breaths began to match hers and he could feel their soul wavelengths merging together, forming one that danced against the strings of fate and passion.

When she breathed out the last note, tears had been streaming down her face and she swiftly wiped them away. Once she collected her tears, she turned to him to only look at him with widening eyes. "Bakugou…you're…crying…", she observed.

And sure enough, when Katsuki could feel himself back in his own body again, he could feel wet streaks down his red cheeks and more wetness near the corners of his eye lids. He immediately lifted his wrist to wipe away the evidence that he allowed his emotions to overcome him and irritation built itself up within his stomach. "Fuck this shit...fuck you…fuck your shitty music…fuck this crap…fuck fuck fuck!" he cursed out, frustrated and angered that Ochako somehow was able to reach into him and pull out a side of him that he desired to never let out. He kept rubbing his face in anger, creating red blotches from the friction.

Ochako giggled at his reaction, happy to see she made an impact on the stoic man of Class 1-A. "That's the power of music Bakugou. It can make you feel any range of emotion just from a note. It's beautiful what music can do." She then slowly got up and extended another hand out to him. "C'mon, it's late. We really should be getting some sleep. I heard we have another training session tomorrow."

He knocked her hand away and got up without looking at her, angry that she did that to him but also afraid that she would do it again. He grumbled out his approval and walked side by side with her as they headed back to the dorms. Silence surrounded them as they walked back with only the sounds of nature to accompany them. As they reached the door, Katsuki pulled out his keys from his pocket and the familiar click sound occurred as he kissed the devices together. They walked in, the heat blanketing them in warmth and defrosting the parts of their body that had succumbed to the cold.

"Will you be out there tomorrow night? I think I'm going to try playing a rock song and, if I remember correctly, it's from a band that you enjoy." Ochako said out of the blue as they reached the middle divider from the elevators. Curiosity and hope swirled in her eyes as she gave him an eager smile.

"No, fuck you, fuck your fucking music and prancing around. I don't have time to listen to that shit of yours again." Katsuki bitterly spat out, his body already turning away from her and walking to the elevator. His face was completely red in irritation and he just wanted to get away from her before she roped him into something else.

Ochako giggled in response. "You're too funny, Bakugou!" she then smiled at his back and softly spoke out, "Well thanks for listening to me tonight. That really meant a lot to me! I guess I'll see you around!" and with that, she skipped towards the door that led to the stairwell and waved goodbye before she disappeared into them.

Katsuki watched her leave from his peripheral and kicked the ground by his feet as he awaited the elevator. "Fucking Uraraka…always up to no good," he mumbled to himself as he pulled his phone out and set up a repeating alarm for 2:00 AM. "Fucking Uraraka…" he said again as he entered the called elevator.


End file.
